TCI Road Trip: Archer coach talks about 4-star Clemson prospects

Andy Dyer has 19 years of coaching experience under his belt and is in his eighth season as the head coach for the Archer High Tigers in Lawrenceville, Ga.

The Clemson Tigers have established a firm recruiting footprint in Georgia and frequently dip into the Peach State for talent, so Dyer has built a relationship with members of the Clemson’s coaching staff over the years.

He also played against Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn — who spent 16 seasons as the head coach at Grayson (Ga.) High — back in the day.

The Clemson Insider continued our Road Trip series on Wednesday with a visit to Archer and spoke with Dyer.

“I’ve known coach (Brandon) Streeter for a long time. I’ve known coach Conn. He and I played ball against each other growing up,” Dyer said. “So I’ve known a lot of those guys for a long time from the recruiting trail.

“Great staff, great character guys, and there’s a reason why they’re being successful and attracting good people — not just good players, but attracting good people.”

A couple of Dyer’s players, who fit that bill, are prominent college prospects in the class of 2019 attracting substantial interest from Clemson.

Four-star cornerback Andrew Booth and four-star safety Jalyn Phillips have about four dozen scholarship offers between them and are certainly a luxury for Dyer to have in his squad’s secondary.

“Those guys are super talented,” Dyer said. “We preach alignment assignment, and they do a good job of doing that. They take care of the little stuff, so the big stuff gets taken care of automatically. They’re great athletes, great kids, and great competitors. I think the most important trait, maybe, that they carry on top of being great athletes is that they love football. That’s a big deal because if you’re going to win over the long haul and if you’re going to compete individually over the long haul, you’ve got to truly love the game because it’s a grind. There’s a lot of work involved.”

Booth (6-0, 180) received an offer from Clemson in late July before picking up offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Ohio State in the ensuing days. Phillips (6-1, 190), meanwhile, has over 30 offers including ones from Alabama, Kansas State, N.C. State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA and Wisconsin. Both are ranked among the top 300 prospects nationally in their class.

Both and Phillips both competed at the Dabo Swinney Camp in June and returned to Clemson earlier this month for the Tigers’ season opener against Kent State. Phillips came back a week later for the Auburn game.

Dyer is around the talented tandem every day and knows full well what they are capable of, so it’s no surprise to him that they’re being recruited by the Tigers.

“They both have great ball skills, so they’re both two kids that can be effective in the return game, they can be effective on the offensive side of the ball as well,” Dyer said. “But defensively speaking, they’ve both shown that they’re going to be physical and they’re going to tackle, which at the next level is imperative. If you can’t do that, then you’re not going to get to play. And then the ball-skill thing of not giving up deep balls and being able to secure and play tight coverage and not give that quarterback a lot of room to get the ball in there.”

Clemson’s program prides itself on recruiting not only great athletes, but great people with high character.

According to Dyer, Booth and Phillips will bring the complete package to the table for whichever schools they choose to play for in the future.

“They’re great young men,” Dyer said. “They come to work every day. They never miss practice, they never miss workouts, they take care of their business in the classroom. So, coaching them is easy. There’s no other stuff that you have to worry about or that compounds anything. So they’re just great kids. They’re passionate, they want to please their coaches, and they want to please their teammates. Those are two great qualities that you need to carry with you.”

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